Hellebou - residency and collaboration


It's been just over a week since I returned from the residency with fellow artist Dillan Marsh. I'm filled with memories of a fairy tale landscape...forests of Christmas trees, a mossy carpet on the ground and hundreds of weird and wonderful toadstools.Eleanor Clare Dillan Marsh HellebouEleanor Clare Dillan Marsh Hellebou
















During our time in the log cabin, we aimed to produce collaborative work that in some way reflected our experience of Hellebou.  We had been talking about working together for some time, and this seemed to be the right opportunity.  The theme that brings our work together is the notion of staging, in Dillan's case through the creation of 'a set', and in mine through 'the performer', both in some readiness for 'the show'.

FFI    dillanmarsh.com     discoco.net     hellebou.wordpress.com/

As soon as we stepped foot in the cabin, we could see the enormous potential it held for still life and staged visual set ups, using what was there.  We were already feeling inspired by the stories that the owner had been telling us while she drove us up to the woods.  These tales were the true history of the cabin, her childhood, and how her father had built it for himself many years before, interspersed with stories about nearby dwellers and of course the folklore that surrounds the area.  We were touched by the sense of nostalgia that the space evoked. 

Eleanor Clare Dillan Marsh Hellebou

From the still lives we realised that we needed to work more specifically in our individual ways.  Dillan became the documenter, and I became a part of the picture.  Three different areas became the site: the porch, the inside and the deck.  We thought about building, DIY, survival, homemaking, keeping warm and comfortable. 

So...feeling inspired by the CD of haunting music that came with 2009's Hellebou artist's book, we set about our work.  Here are a few photos that didn't make it to the final cut...those that we liked, but didn't quite work with the format of the book.  The final piece can be seen in the book, and more photos will be available on the Hellebou blog later in the year.  We are also hoping to produce work for the launch exhibition in Bergen.


Eleanor Clare Dillan Marsh Hellebou


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